Policy making in India suffers from a power-driven schizophrenia

Over the past three decades, both Congress and BJP have made opposition to each other's policies an end in itself, even if it amounts to a zero-sum game

One of the curious things about political parties is that they become defenders of the establishment when in power and transform themselves into implacable foes in opposition. This conversion afflicts the two major national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. Over the past three decades, both have made opposition to each other’s policies an end in itself, even if it amounts to a zero-sum game. 

Exemplars of discipline in Parliament, for instance, are transmogrified when in opposition into unruly and disruptive agitators, tearing up documents and “rushing to the well of the House”, to use the favoured